The Development of digital products, such as web apps, mobile apps, and web services go hand in hand with anybody working in the software world. However, some things can not be solved only with code. This talk is a review of the good, the bad, and the ugly experiences we are going to come across when developing a product.

1. The Good, The Bad &
The Ugly
Product
Development
By Claudio Cossio

2. This is just a glimpse of the
Product Development Process
House Keeping

3. Working on building products
@Nearsoft LABS
Claudio Cossio - @ccossio

4. Building
a product
is hard

5. It’s not
just code

6. ! Understand the problem
! Build a desirable solution for it

7. Corporate Innovation has some key challenges
Continuous innovation & core business

8. 3
Horizons
➔ Mature business
➔ Rapidly growing
business
➔ Emerging business

9. Focus Management Tools Goals
Implementing them requires

10. Mature Business
Improve current
businesses
Investment budget &
detailed business
plans

11. Rapid Growing
Business
Build new businesses
Building strategy,
investment budget,
detailed business
plans & new ventures

12. Emerging Business
Build new businesses
New ventures
plans & research

13. ➔ New opportunities
➔ Pattern recognition & in-house
experimentation
➔ Business Model Innovation
Focused in extending an existing business

14. Search & Execution

15. It is not about the product, it is about the
JOB it does for the USER

16. The Good
➔ People are always
happy to lend a hand
➔ Personal touches go
a long way
➔ A humble approach is
the key to “all” doors.

17. The Bad
➔ Everyone is super
busy
➔ You will occasionally
create SPAM
➔ Fine line between
intrusion/permission

18. The Ugly
➔ You will get blocked
or not allowed in
groups
➔ A sorry might not
work
➔ People can take legal
action

19. Opportunities

20. Considerations
➔ Is it an original idea?
➔ Is it a pain reliever?
➔ Which industry are you
focusing?
➔ Doable in a set time?

21. Agenda
➔ Problem assumption
➔ Identify personas
➔ User interviews

22. Let’s Start
IDENTIFY PERSONAS USER INTERVIEWS CONCLUSIONPROBLEM ASSUMPTION

23. IDENTIFY PERSONAS USER INTERVIEWS CONCLUSIONPROBLEM ASSUMPTION
Describe the problem
10 min
➔ Customer needs
➔ Customer desires
➔ The problem you
are solving

24. Provisional Personas
20 to 30 min
IDENTIFY PERSONAS USER INTERVIEWS CONCLUSIONPROBLEM ASSUMPTION
➔ Facts
➔ Problems
➔ Behaviours
➔ Needs & Goals

25. Facts
! Professional
○ Marketing.
○ Development.
○ Management position (number of people he
collaborates with).
○ Describe his role in the workplace.
○ Remote or distributed.
○ Languages.
! Technical
○ Heavy tech user.
○ Mobile or desktop.
○ Number of hours in front of the computer.
○ Tech stack or platforms she prefers
! Gender
○ Male / Female / LGBT.
! Age
! Scholar Degree

26. ! Physical
! Organizational
! Communication
! Cultural
! Trends
! Financial
! Etc
Problems

27. They are descriptions of the person’s daily activities
that resonate with your proposed solution.
! Interaction with other areas.
! They way they communicate with their peers.
! Perception of value.
! Situations that frustrate them.
! What motivates them to take action.
Behaviours

28. Needs.
! Make his daily activities efficient/fun/collaborative.
! Is essential to his work/life.
! Lacks results from current product or services.
Goals.
! Individual and/or Group.
! Organizational and/or Department.
! Professional and/or Personal.
Needs & Goals

29. White paper or board

30. User Interviews
15 to 20 min
USER INTERVIEWS CONCLUSIONPROBLEM ASSUMPTION IDENTIFY PERSONAS
➔ Determine user
➔ Channels & Influencers
➔ Goals & Purchase intent
➔ User/Product fit
➔ Context of use
➔ Future use

31. USER INTERVIEWS CONCLUSIONPROBLEM ASSUMPTION IDENTIFY PERSONAS

32. Customer Archetype
! Know them deeply
! Understand their “day”
! Their interests & interactions
Get a complete view
! How can your product improve their activities
! Is it a nice to have or GOT to have
Determine the User

33. Channels
! How they find information
! Natural mediums to the industry
Influencers
! Who is a reference in their perspective
! Decision maker - yes/no
Channels & Influencers

34. Goals
! The need your product meets
! Value from a user’s perspective
! Type of benefit: Time/Money/Social/Performance
Purchase
! Identify sales cycle
! Requirements to make a purchase
Goals & Purchase intent

35. Behaviours
! Determine if they will use your solution
! Hypotheses (guesses) vs Facts
! Data -> what does it mean?
Insights
! Discover other opportunities
! Sizing the opportunity & market
! Existing market or New market
User/Product fit

36. USER INTERVIEWS CONCLUSIONPROBLEM ASSUMPTION IDENTIFY PERSONAS
No competition = No Customers

37. Assumptions
! How they do their job
! User’s share your same problem assumption
! Ask questions to match your assumptions
! Routines
! How a customer spends his day
! Identify their pain points
Context of use

38. Changes in the product & problem
! Use of it during a period of time
! Life expectancy for the solution
! Potential to be a platform
! Missing opportunities
Future Use

39. USER INTERVIEWS CONCLUSIONPROBLEM ASSUMPTION IDENTIFY PERSONAS
Confirm that the USER has a real problem

40. USER INTERVIEWS CONCLUSIONPROBLEM ASSUMPTION IDENTIFY PERSONAS
Generate Data & Insights

41. Conclusion
! This is just the beginning
! You need to prepare for it
! Less than 10 people is just a
focus group
! You need to talk to 5-10 people
each week
! Understanding the problem and
the customer
! Prioritize the features based on
customer needs